Travelogues

Ireland | Design Mom

Image and text by Gabrielle.

I’ve mentioned we have one more big trip on the schedule before we hold still for a minute — hold still to enjoy the rest of the days and weeks here in this fairytale French farmhouse.

I was going through photos the other day, and was reminded there are several adventures I haven’t written about yet. Like our New Year’s trip to Venice, or a whirlwind weekend from a year ago, where we took my niece to favorite spots all over Normandy.

So before we make that last big trip (we leave to Norway next Monday), I thought I’d share some of our yet-to-be-written-down travelogues this week. Four to be exact. Starting with a report on last week’s visit to Amsterdam that will be posted tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy them. And I hope they will get you psyched for your own travel plans. Which reminds me: What are your travel plans? Have you started thinking about summer vacation yet? Will you be visiting cousins? Camping? Flying somewhere exotic? I’d love to hear!

P.S. — I snapped the instagram at top in Ireland.

52 thoughts on “Travelogues”

  1. We’re headed to Vermont, Montreal and Boston this summer. Not unusual destinations for our family but we have little ones so familiar is perfect. We’ll be spending a lot of time with family along the way hiking, eating and relaxing. My daughter will be attending a day camp at Shelburne Farms near Burlington and she can’t wait.

  2. We are heading back to Cape Cod this summer. We fell in love with it last summer and couldn’t stay away. There are so many other places I want to see, but Cape Cod has this magical charm.

  3. Not too many vacation plans on our schedule since I am due with baby #3 in early August. But we’ll probably take long weekend trips to visit my parents in Flagstaff, AZ and my in-laws in Prescott, AZ. I am already daydreaming about next summer though when we can plan a longer, and more exciting, vacation! I am partial to renting a house in one place and then spending a week or two doing day trips from our home base. We also love camping trips although we’ll probably wait until baby #3 is solidly walking before we plan any longish camping trips. Enjoy Norway!

  4. we are heading to south eastern Colorado an area that isn’t touristed but very beautiful in an unspoiled way. There are immense grasslands and small towns where time seems to pass very slowly.

  5. This family is solidly split on travel plans! We just moved to Zurich, Switzerland with our 4 children and have a convenient home base for multiple opens — Milan? Paris? Croatia? Barcelona? Or should we just stay local and enjoy a summer getting to know our new home? These are good problems to have! :)

    Looking forward to reading (and being inspired by) your family travelogue.
    Warmly,
    Kim
    http://SwissAmericanLife@wordpress.com

    1. My husband and I lived in Zurich many years ago and it was the perfect base for exploring Europe. I loved going to the train station and seeing the destinations on the board: Paris, Milan, Rome, Munich… Coming from Australia where it takes such a long time to get anywhere this was such a treat for us.
      I loved that we could just nip across the border to Germany for a day out or catch the train to Milan for the weekend to attend a concert. Plus there are so many beautiful places to explore in Switzerland.
      Enjoy your time there :)

  6. We are headed to North Carolina and the Outer Banks for 4 days in June – very excited to visit this part of the country and the beach. At the end of this trip we’ll be picking up a new Maine Coon kitten to join our family so that will make an awesome souvenir! A camping trip in July and a weekend in Vegas will round out our summer travel – but our big trip this year is (hopefully) 3 weeks in France in September. It’s been a long time since I have been able to spend an extended period of time visiting family so really hoping work schedules don’t prevent this trip from being a “go”.

  7. We’re going to VA Beach at the end of June, then camping in New York (Letchwork)in July then France(it’s been forever!)… in December. Looking forward to spending Christmas with my family, it will be a first for this time of year with kids. Do they still do re-runs of Heidi and Sissi?

  8. Lisl Sukachevin

    We are looking forward to three weeks in Greece and Italy with our three teenage boys this summer!! Lots of museums, art, architecture, gelato, and yummy food! I’ve been waiting and waiting for your Venice travelogue since we will be there for four days–I’ve already jotted down ideas from your Florence travelogue!

  9. We usually do a big road trip to IL and MO to see family, but I’m not sure we’ll do it this summer. We’re taking our kids to Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls in June and we’re thinking of spending a week with family in Halifax, NS. We went last year and spent wonderful, lazy days playing on the beach.

    I’m not sure if you’ve told us already…but I’m curious where you’re headed when you come back to N America.

    1. Niagara Falls took my breath away. It’s one of those places that over-delivered on my expectations.

      As for your 2nd paragraph, we’re still a bit up in the air.

  10. My boyfriend and I have definitely started thinking about summer vacation! He’s Italian, so we absolutely need to see his family. ;) We’re flying via Iceland (a place I’ve been twice) with a 48-hour stopover. Then headed to Sicily for a family wedding, then up to Paris, where I lived for a year. Then, to wrap up the trip, we chose a city neither of us have been to: Krakow! I’m so excited, and am almost exhausted thinking about how many planes we’ll get on. Maybe next year we’ll pick one city to settle in for the entire vacation…

  11. It’s such a thrill for me to see Doonagore castle, I lived next door for a year right out of college. I enjoy following your family’s travels.

  12. I’m from Australia but live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our two year visas are coming up for renewal this Summer so our family is forced to take an international holiday to visit a consulate. Not the worst thing to be forced to do ;)
    We’ll be flying to Calgary for our appointment then taking a road trip to Vancouver where we plan to stay for about a week. Once we’ve picked up our passports and new visas (which luckily we can do without heading back to Calgary) we’re planning on driving back to San Francisco via Seattle and Portland. We’ve never been to Canada and are yet to make it north of here to Oregon and Washington so we’re all pretty excited about it.

  13. I love planning family vacations! In July, we’re taking our oldest daughter, who’s almost 9, to Brooklyn/NYC. She’s so excited! Then in August, we’re heading out from our home base of Austin, TX on a road trip to the cool mountains of Ruidoso, NM via West Texas. It’s always nice to escape the brutal Texas heat and head to the mountains!

  14. After I graduate college this week (!!!) I am taking a cross country road trip to visit my family in charming TN for June. Then, I am heading to Italy for a week and then moving to China for a year in July! It will be an adventurous post-grad year. Always inspired by you and yours. Excited for your travelogues! Xo

  15. My husband announced a month ago that he had a presentation and paper accepted to an international humanities conference in Budapest and asked if I would like to go with him! Of course the answer was yes! So we are off to Budapest and then because we are so close and I’ve always wanted to go we will visit Prague. I’m really excited because up until that announcement I had never even considered visiting Budapest. It’s always funny to see how life twists and turns when we never expect it. I’m glad this time it was in such a lovely way.

    After that we will take the boys to Tahoe to my families cabin. We try to go every summer with my parents, siblings and all the cousins (well as many of them as can go). Imagine the cabin and family in Dan in Real life and it’s a little like that. Everyone piling in a small space playing games and having adventures. I’m sure I will love the familiar comfort of that week just as much as the new experience of visiting Prague.

  16. Since we’ve already flown out of the country twice this year, our summer plans are a lot simpler. It’s already the middle of summer where we are, and we just took our 1.9 year old on her first beach trip! It was only an overnight trip. Our toddler enjoyed the sand and sea so much that we’ll follow it up with another trip before the rainy season sets in!

  17. Guess what? I’m heading to Norway on Tuesday! Flying from CDG, landing in Oslo then the fabulous train to Bergen before heading back to Oslo and back to Paris! I can’t wait!

  18. As a nanny, this summer I get to travel with my charge (2yo) and her family to Copenhagen. First time ever to travel internationally with a family I work with. Looking forward to how it will bring us together and looking forward to seeing all the new experiences through my little charge’s wonderous eyes! It’s sure to be a fantastic trip, but I have no idea what to expect!!

  19. My oldest friend is getting married this summer and that means a few trips to New York (where we are from) and D.C. (where the wedding is being held). Other than that, no vacation plans this summer. Can’t wait to read about your trips!

  20. Hi Gabrielle, we are living in Switzerland for a year and trying to see as much as we can while we are here. We have just booked a long weekend in Paris in May. What do you recommend?

  21. We are on a two year adventure traveling all over the USA and Canada. Our house in NC is rented until May 2014. So far, we have been to 32 states, New Brunswick, and PEI. We are living in our Casita travel trailer and having a wonderful time. 25 year career in the US Air Force afforded is the opportunity to travel and we have been committed wanderers ever since. We lived in Turkey and Germany along with many places in the US, but still so much to see…

  22. Hubby and I will be heading to Sydney, Australia in two weeks. Planning the places to visit now as we will have only 4 days there. Looking forward to a good time there.

  23. We are headed to D.C. and New York in June to visit my siblings. The furthest East my husband of one year has ever been is Ohio (where I grew up). I am excited to introduce him to the East Coast and big city life!

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